Malaysian and Indonesian Perspective on Palm Oil Biodiesel

2010-11-22 05:24 AM

solarant
Chennai, India
Posts: 7

Malaysia and Indonesia together account for over 80% of worldwide palm oil production, so it should not be any surprise to hear that they plan to have a 5% mandatory blend of biodiesel in all diesel vehicles from 2011 onwards. In fact, the question should be, "why only 5%?"!

The biodiesel industry provides handsome forex to the Malaysian and Indonesian governments. It is hence only natural that these nations are very positive about the use of palm in biodiesel.

But not all of them from these countries are equally excited. There are enough voices that are saying that such large scale palm plantations for biodiesel production (many times cutting down forest areas) is not sustainable.

What are your views on this important matter? How should Malaysia and Indonesia approach the palm biodiesel opportunity?